Biographies (Profiles) (*)

Beyond Our Boundaries: Episode 4

Follow the story of a family of five as they backpack over 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine.

Beyond Our Boundaries: Episode 3

Follow the story of a family of five as they backpack over 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine.

Beyond Our Boundaries: Episode 2

Follow the story of a family of five as they backpack over 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine.

Beyond Our Boundaries: Episode 1

Follow the story of a family of five as they backpack over 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine.

Sunshine in the Deep South

First update from Balls and Sunshine on their journey along the Appalachian Trail!

Sunshine Prepares for the Appalachian Trail

The Starbursts are packed. What else could they need?!

Introducing Chris Wallace as Backpacking Light’s New Gear Editor

O Canada!

The conclusion to Balls and Sunshine's 2011 PCT hike. Is the best yet to come?

Sunshine in the Sierra

Everything about the Sierra portion of the PCT was harder this year. Balls and Sunshine faced record-setting snow, low food, dangerous water crossings, injuries, and a markedly slower pace.

We’re Going to Disneyland!

Investing in both daughters, preparing for the hike, and executing the first 700 miles has kept Eric busy. Sunshine's no slouch either!

Eleven Years Old on the PCT

Recently unemployed, with a daughter itching to complete a thru-hike, what's a dad to do? Get sponsors and yank her from school, of course!

Peace Pilgrim: Minimalist Trekker for World Peace

Mildred Norman Ryder intentionally transformed herself from a middle class homemaker to a virtually penniless promoter of peace. She called herself "Peace Pilgrim," and for almost thirty years she wandered North America on foot on a pilgrimage, carrying her only possessions in her pockets.

Lyme Disease: Challenging Old Stereotypes

Mark Bailey knows danger. A now-retired ship’s chief engineer who recounts his life experiences with bright-eyed fervency and an occasional chuckle, Bailey, 61, has circled the world four times. He spent a night in jail in Zamboanga, Phillipines, in 1981 after getting mixed up with communist rebels. He’s been tossed around the Tasman Sea in a small sailboat. In the spring of 2000, a few years after retiring, Bailey set out to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. He considers it the most dangerous thing he’s ever done.

Metamorphosis #4: Monocle

It is amazing how removing so much from one's hands puts so much at one's fingertips.

Metamorphosis #3: Walking the Edge

At the onset of my affiliation with Backpacking Light, my base weight stood at a whopping sixty pounds. After several months worth of hand-wringing and basic re-education in the art of backpacking, I'd dropped my base weight to nineteen pounds.

Metamorphosis #2: A Change in Attitude

Compared to the expertise written into surrounding pages, a nineteen-pound base weight must look like an embarrassingly tight pair of pants. With another ten pounds in food and water, my thirty-pound pack still needs heavy trimming.

Metamorphosis #1: Confessions of a Heavyweight Backpacker

At the trailhead, I saddle up: I don't carry my pack. It rides me. My steel-toed boots thunder along the trail, resonating tremors deep into the ground of high country tundra. My shirt clings heavily with perspiration, the soles of my feet cry out for air, and my shoulders ache for reprieve. My name is Nathan Boddy, and I have a backpacking problem.

Will Rietveld

Blake Morstad

Ryan Jordan

Visit Ryan's Personal Website: RyanJordan.com